MSN Entertainment: Top Celebrities

John Travolta

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

During the last few years of the 1970s, "John Travolta" reigned as one of the most towering stars in Hollywood, second, perhaps, only to Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford as a top male box office draw. After a string of hits in films, on television, and on the radio, Travolta emerged as a seemingly unstoppable cultural phenomenon, defining tastes in music and fashion while dominating innumerable columns of newspapers and tabloids. Like so many other celebrities, Travolta's initial fame proved short-lived,... [more]

Britney Spears

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Best known for her sultry image as a pop superstar, "Britney Spears" actually began her youthful career as an actress -- the singing came later. Spears was born December 2, 1981, in Kentwood, LA. A mere eight years later, she was auditioning for The Mickey Mouse Club, although she wouldn't be added to the cast for another three years. She spent summers schooling at New York's Off-Broadway Dance Center and the Professional Performing Arts School, and earned a role on the off-Broadway play Ruthless in 1991. A... [more]

Kelly Preston

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Actress "Kelly Preston" was first seen on a national basis in the last-billed role of a general's daughter on the weekly 1983 TV drama "For Love and Honor". She established herself as an agreeable comedienne in such films as "Mischief" (1985) and "Secret Admirer" (1985), then became lost in the turgid melodramatics of "52 Pick-Up" (1986). Her big movie break was supposed to have been her co-starring stint with "Arnold Schwarzenegger" and "Danny De Vito" in "Twins" (1988), but the role was too nondescript to... [more]

Jennifer Aniston

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Jennifer Aniston makes a good case for proving that acting talent can be absorbed by osmosis. From her father John Aniston's stardom on Days of Our Lives to her godfather Telly Savalas, the actress was surrounded by plenty of inspiration from an early age. As Aniston attended the Rudolph Steiner School as a child, she was interested in many forms of art and proved to be a talented painter, eventually having one of her pieces displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Acting also appealed to her, and... [more]

Rebecca Romijn

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

With just as much comic timing as beauty, "Rebecca Romijn-Stamos" made the transition from model to actress look easy. After a memorable stint on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me, she parlayed her previous small roles in "Dirty Work" (1998) and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999) into a full-fledged movie career.

Born on November 6, 1972, Romijn-Stamos is the daughter of a Dutch father and a Dutch-American mother. Her parents, a custom toy and furniture maker and an English as a Second Language... [more]

Angelina Jolie

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Next to "Liv Tyler", "Angelina Jolie" is the only actress of her generation who can thank her famous father for the lips that have become her trademark. The actress was born Angelina Jolie Voight to the pillow-lipped "Jon Voight" and actress Marcheline Bertrand on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles.

Raised mostly by her mother after her parents divorced while she was still a baby, Jolie moved around a lot with her mother and brother. She also did a fair amount of traveling as a professional model, living in such... [more]

Miley Cyrus

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

The daughter of country-music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus got her start in the entertainment industry on an episode of her father's PAX TV medical series Doc before appearing in Tim Burton's fantastical 2003 adventure Big Fish. A fateful appearance as the character Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody followed in 2006, and her character proved so popular that a spin-off series called Hannah Montana was launched shortly thereafter. In the series, Cyrus portrayed... [more]

Beyoncé

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Primarily known as the most popular R&B singer of the late '90s and 2000s, Beyoncé Knowles has come to be known simply as Beyoncé. Only a few years after establishing herself in the popular consciousness as the new queen of R&B, Knowles was ready to expand beyond her immeasurable voice and larger-than-life stage presence. She set her sights on a movie career, first getting her acting feet wet at the age of 20 with the logical transitional project Carmen: A Hip Hopera, a modern-day version of the Bizet opera... [more]

Madonna

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Possessing one of the most distinctive voices in pop music and one of the most distressing résumés on the big screen, "Madonna" has proven that whatever the role -- screwball seductress, martyred Argentinian first lady, embittered single mom-cum-yoga instructrix -- her abilities as a performer will manage to undermine any production whose credits bear her name. Like "Elvis" before her, "Madonna" has proven that no matter how sterling a pop reputation an artist may have, success on the Billboard Top 100 does... [more]

Paula Abdul

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Not exactly what you'd call a soul or disco diva, former Laker Girl Paula Abdul has nevertheless enjoyed some impressive commercial triumphs. As a teen, she was the major choreographer and a member of the Los Angeles Lakers' cheerleaders. She moved from that role to choreographing videos for Janet Jackson's Control album and The Tracey Ullman Show. Abdul switched to recording in 1988, with the LP Forever Your Girl. It sold more than seven million copies, topped the pop charts for ten weeks, and yielded number... [more]

Lindsay Lohan

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Child actress "Lindsay Lohan" was already an experienced performer when she made her feature debut in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Born in New York City, Lohan began modeling at age three. After appearing in numerous TV commercials, Lohan moved to series TV with a role on the soap operaAnother World from 1996 to 1997. Cast as The Parent Trap's scheming twin sisters after a six month search for just the right girl, Lohan succeeded in filling "Hayley Mills"' shoes, winning over audiences with her pert... [more]

Kim Kardashian

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:45:34 GMT

Kim Kardashian, the wealthy daughter of the high-powered defense attorney Robert Kardashian and Kris Kardashian (and the stepdaughter of Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner), grew up in Beverly Hills, CA, and attended an exclusive all-girls Catholic high school in the City of Angels. As a young woman, Kardashian worked at her father's music marketing firm, Movie Tunes, then parlayed her entrepreneurial instincts into a successful career as a wardrobe stylist for television programs, magazine photo layouts, and... [more]